- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
- Mourners pay tribute to latest victims of deadly Channel crossing
- Phillies win thriller to level Mets series
- Yu bags first PGA Tour win with playoff win
- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
Big risks in oil transfer from rusting Yemen tanker: Greenpeace
Greenpeace Thursday praised a "risky" UN-led operation to transfer oil from a rusting Yemen tanker, but warned the threat of environmental catastrophe cannot be ruled out until the operation ends.
On Sunday, the UN-owned Nautica arrived off war-torn Yemen to take on 1.14 million barrels of crude oil from the decaying FSO Safer, a rusting 47-year-old vessel that has not been serviced in more than eight years.
The difficult transfer operation is expected to begin over the next few days, following years of tense diplomacy between the United Nations, Yemen's Huthi rebels and the internationally recognised government.
"We are happy that the Nautica ship approached Safer because this is the culmination of years of effort ... to save the Red Sea from a ticking bomb," Ghiwa Nakat, Executive Director of Greenpeace in the Middle East and North Africa, told AFP.
But "the risks are very big," she warned.
"There could be an explosion while pumping due to a difference in pressure which could lead to a massive leak in the Red Sea."
The Safer is carrying four times as much oil as the amount that spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.
A major spill -- which could cost more than $20 billion to clean up -- could result in ecological disaster, devastate Yemeni fishing communities and close lifeline ports and desalination plants.
Greenpeace said the risk of a spill or explosion has been "a sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of millions of people living in the region".
"The threat cannot be averted until the oil is completely and safely removed," it warned in a statement.
Assuming that the transfer operation is successful, the crude oil will stay stored on the Nautica for the foreseeable future.
The Safer is intended to be fully decommissioned and recycled.
"We certainly hope that in the next stage, a proper recycling of Safer will take place because there will be leaks and traces of the oil that was present," Nakat said.
"This process needs funding," she said, adding that Greenpeace would hold responsible "the oil companies that used it for many years".
The UN operation to transfer oil from the Safer and tow the ship to a scrapyard is budgeted at some $143 million.
The world body says that it still needs an additional $22 million to tow the Safer to a recycling yard and safely tether the replacement vessel to ensure safe storage of the oil until its eventual destination is decided.
P.Queiroz--PC